Protest rocks NHIS as Presidency reinstates suspended Yusuf

Three unions with members in the National Health Insurance Scheme office on Monday protested the resumption of its suspended Executive Secretary, Prof. Usman Yusuf.

The protest trailed the resumption of Yusuf, after the NHIS Governing Council had suspended him indefinitely for alleged gross misconduct on Oct. 18.

Recall that Yusuf earlier in 2016 was suspended by the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, over financial impropriety but was later recalled by the Presidency.

Since his reinstatement, Yusuf have been having a running battle with the NHIS governing board which culminated into another suspension, also on alleged gross misconduct in October.

Mr. Abdulrazak Omomaji, Chairman, Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria, who led the protest by the union members on Monday, in Abuja, said Prof. Yusuf remained suspended.

“NHIS is guided and governed by an established Act with a constituted governing council, the council resolved using powers and available evidence of alleged corruption to suspend Yusuf.

“Presently there are a lot of allegations against him involving the 2018 budget crisis which include removal of the N264 million padding discovered in the budget.

“He engaged in nepotism in Nov. 2016 by fraudulently awarding contract to Lubekh Nigeria Limited for the training of NHIS staff members who were his relatives, among other allegations.

“He has been suspended, but if he insists on resuming work, then he will be scoring the present government very low in the fight against corruption,” he said.

Mr. Olawuyi Kayode, the Chairman Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, noted the present government’s stand on integrity with zero tolerance for corruption.

He explained that the governing council carried out its mandate to suspend him due to infractions discovered in the system with several petitions against him, which the union supported.

However, Mr. Mohammed Gajo, a Principal Manager and Chairman Nigeria Civil Service Union, criticised the protest saying the executive secretary was working with a very articulate and robust plan to sanitise the scheme.

He added that the protest by the joint union was an indication that the members wanted to resist positive changes by the executive secretary.

“The ES has recovered a lot of money since his assumption of office; he remitted about N1.2 billion to the TSA account; he insisted that the Health Management Organisations paid back funds meant for health facilities,” he said.

Mr Abubakar Kurfi Mohammad, Assistant General Manager, Planning, NHIS, noted that the governing council chairman suspended the ES with approval of the minister without any form of paper evidence.

“He was appointed by the President and can only be sacked by the President; we have the backing of the presidency and the full support of the Nigerian citizens,’’ he said.